Successful Orphaned Equipment Recovery
The Endurance Array team at Oregon State University (OSU) achieved a first in early August. They succeeded in recovering a Coastal Surface Piercing Profiler (CSPP) and its anchor from the Oregon Shelf site with an ROV customized for this endeavor.
The team boarded the 54-foot R/V Elakha, which is owned and operated by Oregon State University on Thursday 5 August, to implement a recovery scheme developed by OSU-OOI technicians Alex Wick and Ian Black.
Wick and Black also created and configured the line pack and other materials needed by the ROV, and led operations on deck. Jeremy Fox, captain of the R/V Oceanus, operated the ROV. The goal was to retrieve the orphaned CSPP from the site.
“This successful mission demonstrates the creativity and determination of the Endurance Array team to retrieve equipment from the seafloor,” said Jonathan Fram, project manager for the Endurance Team Array at OSU. “When we lose a piece of equipment, we do everything in our power to retrieve it not only because of the expense of the equipment and the scientific value of data it contains, but because we are required to recover what we deploy. OSU-OOI has recovered orphaned equipment with ROVs in the past, but the recovery scheme used here was much more effective and efficient.”
The mission is shown in the pictures below:
